Joan Collins: 'Twitter is banal, boring'

Speaking to The Spectator, the actress criticized people who update their social networks instead of living in the moment.

"I used to think that twittering was just for the birds but now there seems to be an epidemic of people peck, peck, pecking away at their iPhones, Blackberries, strawberries, whatever," she complained.

"It is the most banal and boring pastime ever invented. Twitterers seem to care not for their surroundings or even the people they're supposed to be socialising with as they punch in those 140 characters telling whoever cares that they are on the train now."

Collins added that she had been bored at an Oscars party because everyone there was updating their Twitter page.

"I turned to my right to start a conversation, only to find my dinner partner thump, thump, thumping away," she said. "I looked to my left, only to find my other dinner companion also hitting his keypad. Defeated, I ordered another martini and sat back to watch the show on the dozens of TV screens surrounding us.

"I am truly bored and stumped by this technology and the people who are doing it are even more boring. You're seated near Kirk Douglas, Jay Leno, Jane Fonda, Jackie Collins - and that's just those I could see - and you prefer to hunch over your contraption... go figure."